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The role of pharmacists in these environments is still evolving, but trends toward a focus on access to medicines, including availability, affordability, and acceptability are emerging. In a number of countries, for example, India, South Africa and Mexico pharmacists are also widely employed in the pharmaceutical industry and students are prepared for careers in the industry.

Globally, pharmacy practice, science, and education are undergoing unprecedented changes. Expanded roles for pharmacists, as providers of health-care services and as scientists, are increasingly recognised and valued. Pharmacists worldwide are serving as the medicines experts in the collaborative health care team and providing critical information to other health providers on the benefits, risks, and potential adverse interactions between therapeutic agents for communicable diseases such as malaria, TB, HIV/ AIDS and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. Countering these achievements, many countries still face critical shortages of pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, and pharmaceutical support personnel. Although there have been calls for changes in pre- service education, better approaches to continuing education for the existing health workforce, and training pharmacists to supervise a lower cadre of assistants [15].

4.2 Method

Sixteen countries were purposively sampled based on existing knowledge and asked a series of questions about pharmacy education, relating to Current drivers Trends Innovations and transformation Links with national strategy for health care services/delivery After two reminders 14 responses were received [Chile, Great Britain, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Namibia, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Abu Dhabi, USA and Zimbabwe], which were analysed using NVivo computer programme. Themes were identified from the case studies submitted and a narrative account was produced, drawing from the country case studies. The final narrative was sent back to all the authors for comments and approval.

4.3 Results and Discussion

4.3.1 Current drivers

The current global health system and pharmacy profession drivers that are transforming pharmacy education are summarised in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1: Current drives for change.

Many countries have or are in the process of completely changing their entry-level pharmacy courses. Japan started a new six-year undergraduate pharmacy education programme in 2006 to address the rapid progress of medical technology, development of new pharmaceuticals and meet social demands for medication safety. The increasing demand for pharmacists to practice in both public and private sectors is the main driver for change of the pharmacy education in Malaysia. The status of pharmacists in the public and private sector has improved with new clinical roles, attractive salaries and increased opportunities for promotion.

Global and local drivers are shaping the pharmacy profession in Jordan. For instance, the world-wide shift in pharmacy practice from being product-oriented to being patient- oriented, and the subsequent rise of the pharmaceutical care concept, has exercised pressure on Jordanian pharmacy education to shift in tandem with these changes. Additionally, the evolution of new concepts, such as pharmacogenomics